Standing Water
by Ushika
Summary: Gray finally realizes his feelings for Juvia, except he has one problem; he can't seem to tell her. Every time he gets near her now he can't seem to act normally, so what will happen when Juvia asks him to go on a risky mission with her, when he doesn't want her anywhere near danger and still cant express his feelings? Gruvia, maybe others *Rated M for future lemons and violence


Gray found himself sitting up in his bed as the sounds of early morning trickled in from his open window. He sat there for a moment before letting his head fall into his hands in despair. He couldn't say it to her again yesterday.

"Arrrgh..!" he groaned as he furiously rubbed at his hair in frustration.

Why was it so difficult for him to say this simple thing? All he had to do was say the words "I love you Juvia." She said them to him daily so why couldn't he find the courage to say them even once? No, that wasn't it, he knew exactly why he couldn't say them, but he never told her why, and he knows he caused her a lot of suffering because of his indecisiveness. Gray let out a heavy sigh as he pushed these thoughts aside for the up-tinth time and got ready to go to the guild for the day.

Everything was rowdy as usual when he walked into the guild, Natsu and Elfman were having contest over something having to do with their respective manliness, Mira was behind the bar, smiling at the brawling pair as Macao and Wakaba got a good laugh out of it. Across the room he spied Lucy talking vividly with Levy as they poured over some thick volume in front of them. To the other side of the girls table and saw Gajeel talking with none other than..Juvia.

Gray felt the same bout of nervousness that had been plaguing him for months twist his stomach into knots as his pulse started to throb, almost certainly turning his face red.

"Damn it.." he mumbled under his breath as he made his way over to Mira at the bar.

Why did he have to feel so nervous every time he saw her now? It wasn't like she would reject him; if anything it was the complete opposite. She would probably jump for joy when he confesses. But the whole idea of doing it, and receiving the knowing looks from his guild mates was just so..embarrassing.

Gray sighed hoping he could calm his pounding heart before-

"Gray-sama!"

Damn it.

Gray's gut twisted again as he heard Juvia's voice call out behind him.

"Ignore her, ignore her." he chanted in his head as he felt her approach his turned back.

"No, no, no this isn't getting me anywhere. If I ignore her it'll turn out the same way," he thought angrily to himself as he shook his head in a futile attempt to clear his head.

"Gray-sama!" he heard her call out again.

Gray peeked over his shoulder and quickly regretted it as he felt the blood rush to his face. Was it because he was so nervous? No, it was more than that. When he saw Juvia quickly walking towards him, her loose blue curls falling in waves around her shoulders and dark blue eyes looking at him with a look of complete adoration, he felt his gut twist again, but in a more pleasant way as a spreading warmth followed the churn.

Juvia smiled brightly at him and he turned his head back and quickly sat on a bar stool in front of Mira. The white haired beauty gave him a look that said she knew everything that was going through his head at the moment, and she did.

Gray blushed two shades deeper at this and Mira smirked, loving watching the two young mages struggle with their obvious feelings for each other.

Juvia finally reached the ice mage who was blushing eight shades of red, unbeknownst to her, and quickly wrapped her arms around his arm making Gray stiffen slightly. Juvia was especially excited about seeing her Gray-sama today, she had picked out a mission that she thought would be a perfect chance for her to get closer to him and wanted to tell him about it as soon as possible.

"Gray-sama, Juvia found a really good mission yesterday and was wondering if Gray- sama would accompany her." the water mage asked excitedly, still holding onto Grays arm.

The ice mage couldn't move, when Juvia had touched him he stiffened like a board, though he tried his best not to let her notice. She had always thrown herself at him in similar manners but this was the first time he reacted like this. He silently blamed his nervousness as he turned to answer Juvia, his blush subsiding for the most part.

"Th-that might be a good idea." good god was he stuttering?

"What's the job for?" he asked as he steadied his voice with some effort.

"She and Gray-sama would be standing in for some VIP guests being targeted at an important business negotiation event. Before the meeting there is a ball the clients will be targeted at, they will even provide special lodgings in the hotel!" Juvia explained with vigor, clutching Grays arm slightly tighter.

Gray stiffened more visibly at the description of the job, his residual blush disappeared and the pleasant twisting in his stomach was replaced by nausea.

"I don't know Juvia, that job seems-"

"Gray-sama doesn't want to do it with Juvia?" she cut him off, looking up into his eyes, looking like she was about to cry.

Gray turned his face away from Juvia's line of sight. He didn't say another word as he got up, shook off Juvia's grip on his arm, and walked briskly out of the guild.

Juvia was left a little bit surprised at how he had refused her, usually he said something that could let her laugh off the rejection and try again immediately but this time Gray left her hanging in silence. Juvia knew something was off with her Gray-sama, but just as she was about to follow him, Lucy and Levy stopped her in her tracks, and they looked like they had questions for her.

Not much later, Juvia was seated at a table with pair looking at her eagerly as they bombarded her with questions.

"What's wrong with Gray?"

"Yeah, he's never blown you off completely like that before!"

"Did something happen between you two?"

"..Juvia doesn't know what happened. Gray-sama is defiantly acting odd, but nothing strange has happened between her and Gray-sama so Juvia doesn't understand why.." Juvia trailed off, looking down at her hands fiddling in her lap.

The girls looked at their friend worriedly, wondering what could be done to cheer her up. Erza, who had been watching from the sidelines until now, approached the group and clapped her hand on Juvia's shoulder. Juvia lifted her head to see the red head smiling down at her.

"Don't let it bother you too much, I'm sure he's just having a bad day. It wasn't his intention to be that cold to you." Erza said comfortingly.

The water mage's eyes shimmered a little, both from oncoming tears and hope in Erza's words.

"He probably needs to get a hold of things is all."

Juvia's eyes lit up at the word "hold", one of her wild fantasies sprawling out before her eyes.

_Juvia ran through the crowded streets of Magnolia, in desperate search of her Gray-sama. Juvia finally spotted him walking past the fountain in the center of town._

_"Gray-sama!" Juvia called out as she caught up with his depressed figure when he paused in front of the fountain._

_Juvia sprinted the remaining distance between them, arms outstretched to embrace his muscled body. But before she could wrap her arms around him, Gray had turned to face her and caught her in an embrace of his own, pressing her tightly against him. _

_"G-Gray-sama..!" Juvia stuttered in surprise of his forwardness. _

_Gray squeezed her tighter as he pressed his lips onto her head through her soft hair.  
"Juvia..I know I haven't always shown it but..I need you..I need you Juvia, please stay with me forever..!"_

_"Gray-sama…!"_

_"I love you, Juvia!"_

Juvia's fantasy trailed into an overly romantic stylization of her and Gray's interaction as she continued to stare into space with hearts in her eyes. She was only brought back to reality when Erza shook her shoulder slightly.

Juvia blinked a few times before quickly standing up.

"Juvia needs to find Gray-sama, thank you Erza-san!" she said quickly before rushing out of the guild, an echoing "Gray-sama!" trailing behind her.

Lucy and Levy walked over to stand beside Erza as they all watched the revived water mage go.

"I'm surprised you were able to cheer her up with just that, what if something really is wrong with Gray?" Lucy asked curiously

Erza smiled knowingly "Oh, something's wrong with him but its nothing Juvia can't fix."

_**A/N: Yaaaay first fanfiction! i hope i didn't do too badly with everybody's personalities. please feel free to review and give me any advice you think i need ^-^ *Note: There will be future lemons but i do want to get a decent story going first.**_

_**Thanks for reading!**_

_**-Ushika**_


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